Creating successful Digital Citizens - 2011

Discussion following viewing of Lee Crockett's Ulearn Keynote

Implications for teaching and learning

We need to challenge our assumptions about how to teach and need to have an open mind about new ways of learning.

Digital Learners have a whole different set of learning behaviours and styles.
They are neurowired differently – hyperlinked minds
  • Parallel processing and multi-tasking and random access to content
    • Plan for opportunities to students to take greater control of, and responsibility for, their learning path
    • Key Competencies
  • Pictures, sounds, colours and video BEFORE text.
    • Text now complements pictures to clarify understanding
    • Colours of font and background
    • Eye tracking (F)
  • Just in time learning rather than just in case (might need in the future)
    • To acquire a new skill to use now
  • Immediate and deferred gratification as well as instant and delayed rewards
    • Critical decision making by students
    • Timetabling implications – who decides when and what we learn?
    • Use digital learning objects – group problem solving
    • Web Quests
    • Video games and play stations for teaching and learning
  • They have an expectation that they will interact with a screen (not passive audience for information) – a place to project their identify on to
  • Learning needs to be relevant, active, instantly useful and fun
    • INQUIRY – needs, wants, interests
  • Headware not hardware – critical and creative thinking
  • 21st Century fluencies
    • Solution
    • Information
    • Creativity
    • Media
    • Collaboration
      • These skills can not be measured by traditional standardised tests but need to be taught from 5!
      • As important as the traditional literacies
  • Teachers need to allow students to be connected and engaged with multimedia WITHIN the normal classroom environment.
  • Teachers need to model and articulate:
    • Learning – Unlearning – Relearning

Teacher voice: Kirsty, Jocelyn, Ngaire, Clare, Jo
30 November 2010

F What are the 10 key points for you?
1. Competency based learning (Transferable skills) Linked to digital citizenship
2. Importance of images over text.
3. Colour is important (especially for Digital natives).
4. We are moving towards being a right brain society.
5. Just in time rather than just in case learning and teaching
6. Sequential learning as well as multi tasking learning multisource and task. Linear vs jump around like a honey bee manner
7. Digi natives prefer instant gratification and reward
8. Digi natives require skills and knowledge to find and discern information. Headware over hardware
9. Which information is relevant and reliable on the net , discernment is key…
What are we not seeing because there is too much action?
10. Their future is not our past…

F What are the implications of this, for the teachers and students at y/our school? How can this information change my/our teaching/learning programmes?

What skills do chn need to interact and thrive in this world.
Is school engaging to our learners?
Are teachers actually in the way of learning? Slowing it down so we can keep up.
F shaped reading of digi natives… This is supported by popular websites (T/me, Wikispaces, You tube)
Our classrooms need to be colourful and engaging full of stimulating images etc…
Should education be more entertaining?
Young chn are actively engaged at home them come to school for engaging…
We need to think up rich questions without a ready online answer…
Skills are becoming broader and more easily applied to a range of situations…transferable skills…How do we as educators ensure all students see the many possible applications to these skills eg: Word skills applied to publisher or wikispaces…